1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of disk drives and more particularly to heat dissipation from amplifiers in the read/write circuitry thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Disk drives store and retrieve data for digital electronic apparatuses such as computers. A typical magnetic disk drive comprises a head, including a slider and a transducer, in very close proximity to a surface of a rotatable magnetic disk. The transducer, in turn, includes a write element and/or a read element. As the magnetic disk rotates beneath the head, a very thin air bearing is formed between the surface of the magnetic disk and an air bearing surface of the slider. The write element and the read element can be alternately employed to write and read data while an actuator assembly positions the heads along desired magnetic “tracks” on the magnetic disk.
One or more heads are assembled with an actuator assembly and a flex cable assembly to form a head stack assembly (HSA), with the heads electrically connected to the disk drive circuits via the flex cable. Typically, a preamplifier is located on the flex cable in order to amplify signals being read from the disk. As data transfer rates increase, these preamplifiers consume more power and generate more waste heat that must be dissipated. Accordingly, what is needed is better heat dissipation from preamplifiers on flex cables in disk drives.